A Shared Secret
by Melodey
Summary: When a mysterious women enters Gary's life, he begins to suspect that she also gets tomorrows paper.
1. Default Chapter Title

A Shared Secret (part 1)

These are not my characters I'm just borrowing them to for a few stories. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. (And if you don't, don't worry I'm just warming up. The best is yet to come!)

"Gary Hobson!" running as fast as she could, Felicity Johnson called out to get Gary's attention. It was no use, he was about a half block away, and as usual was lost in his newspaper.

All of a sudden Gary stopped and looked up at the small apartment building he was standing in front of. He was about to go up the stairs and into the house, when Felicity called out again, "Gary! Gary Hobson! Don't go in there!"

With a confused look on his face Gary turned around and was face to face with a beautiful brunette who also was holding a paper.

"I don't think you wanna go in there." Felicity said pointing to the door, she was still trying to catch her breath.

"How's that?" asked Gary. He seemed to be trying to figure out who she was or why she wouldn't let him go into the building.

"There's gonna be an explosion and its gonna start a fire, and unless you wanna be killed I suggest you don't go in there. Now if..."

Impatiently Gary cut her off, " I I know. Uh... you see that's why I have to go in there. Two kids are gonna die..."

"I see what you mean and that would be really important, if... anyone was in there but there's not, so lets go," as she finished she grabbed his arm and started to walk down the steps. 

Not wanting to go he said, "Excuse me?"

"I used to be friends with them, so I suggested that they go out for a dinner. They're not home"

Impatiently Gary checked his watch. It was 4:45, three minutes until the explosion would happen.

"Well..." Gary muttered as he flipped threw his paper looking for the article. When he found the page he opened it up so that he could get a better look.

The article now said: LOCAL BAR OWNER KILLED IN EXPLOSION.

After seeing his expression when he saw the article Felicity said, "Come on, lets get out of here before we get ourselves killed." Then she walked away.

"But...it just said..." Gary mumbled to himself as he followed after Felicity. As he walked away the article changed again.

A few seconds later there was a loud explosion, ash and smoke filled the air, and tiny pieces of debris flew from the tiny building.

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"Did you get an phone number? An address? Anything? asked Chuck who was obviously mad at his friend.

Gary, Chuck and Marissa were sitting at a table eating dinner in a small diner.

"Nope, I looked back when I heard the explosion and when I turned back around she was gone." said Gary remembering what had happened.

"And your sure that you've never seen her before?" asked Marissa. "I mean when you were doing stuff for the paper." she had to lower her voice because the diner was crowded and she didn't' want anyone to overhear.

Gary put his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes. Then he looked up and answered "Yeah..."

"And you think she also gets the paper?" asked Marissa

"No...well, maybe, she did have a paper and she knew about the explosion. But I still don't know why my paper still said those kids were gonna die, when they weren't even home?" Frustrated he looked at the front page of the paper, angrily rolled it up and shoved it into his coat pocket.

"Maybe its broken." suggested Chuck matter-of-factly. After receiving a glare from Gary he said, "What? People make mistakes why not papers that tell the future?"

"I don't think so Chuck." Then to Marissa Gary said "What do you think?"

"Well, Maybe the paper wanted you two to meet? Maybe your destined to be together or something? Remember what Lucious Snow said 'Live your life'? Maybe the paper is trying to help you live your life?"

"Maybe," Gary muttered. After finishing his hamburger, he looked at his watch. Then he took the paper out from his coat pocket, and reread an article he had found that morning. It was now 6:20, at 6:56, a man was going to jump to his death.

"Uh...I I gotta go." Gary said standing up.

"I'm coming with you, I wanna find out who this mystery women is," said Chuck also standing up.

"O...ok, but..." Marissa started but Chuck cut her off.

"Don't worry we'll be careful!"

"Yeah, I'll see you later Marissa." Gary said starting to walk away.

"Later," added Chuck, following after Gary.

"But!" Marissa called helplessly after Chuck, holding the bill. "I thought you were paying!" 

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Part 2

"So, all we have to is stop this guy from jumping?" Chuck asked impatiently.

"Something like that," answered Gary without lifting his head from the paper.

They were on the El, on their way to the bridge where 45 year old George Wilkins would jump to his death.

"What does she look like?" asked Chuck breaking the silence.

"How's that?" asked Gary, finally looking up from his paper.

"The girl you met this afternoon. Is she pretty? What does she look like?"

Gary closed his eyes trying to remember what her face looked like, he smiled as her picture popped into his head. "Well...she's pretty. She has long brown hair, green eyes, and um... a mole..."

"A *mole*?" asked Chuck laughing to himself.

"Yes a mole, right here." Gary added pointing to his upper lip.

"Oh..." said Chuck turning so that he could look out the window.

Finally the El reached their stop and Gary and Chuck got off. They were about two blocks away from the bridge and only had a few minutes before George jumped.

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When they reached the bridge no one was insight. Confuse Gary looked at the paper and then the watch. The article was still there and it was exactly 6:55.

Chuck tapped Gary on the shoulder and said, "Look, there he is." Pointing the man.

"Look behind him, that's the girl from this afternoon." 

All of a sudden the man began to climb up the railing of the bridge.

Felicity reached the man first and said, "You don't wanna do this."

"O yeah? Why not? How would you know? I have nothing to live for. My wife left me and she took the kids. I've applied for job after job and I still don't have a job." answered the man trying not to make eye contact with Felicity.

"That's not true," implied Gary, who was now standing on the other side of the man. "Your wife didn't leave you, she went to visit her mother for a few days. She left you a note, but it fell underneath the desk."

"And the job you applied for at the Sun Times, the acceptance letter came in the mail, it was stuck to one of the bills, you never saw it." added Felicity. 

Still trying not to make eye contact, the man asked shyly, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," answered Gary.

"Positive" said Felicity confidently.

"Why don't you come down from there now?" asked Gary taking his arm as if trying to help.

"Ok" said the man as he started to climb over the rail. But when he put his foot on the top rail, he slipped and lost his balance.

The man fell but Gary held onto him. Quickly Chuck and Felicity grabbed his other arm. Together they pulled him onto the floor of the bridge.

"Are you ok?" asked Gary breathing heavily,

"Yeah, Thanks. I really owe you. Wait...how did you know all that stuff and how did she..." said the man pointing to where Felicity once stood.

All three men looked around but none of them spotted her.

"Where'd she go?" asked Chuck

"I dunno, she was here a minute ago." shrugged the man.

"Not again," muttered Gary.

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Part 3

"Meow!" Plop.

Gary opened his eyes. Sat up, and hopped out of bed. He opened the door and the cat got up and ran inside.

"Nice to see you to!" Gary said to the cat, as he bent down and picked up the paper.

Right away the headline on the front page caught his attention: WOMEN DIES OF CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING. Gary wasn't surprised that the girl in the picture was the girl he had met the other day.

"Now its my turn to save her." Gary said to himself as he read the rest of the article.

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"Hello?" Gary called he still didn't know the girl's name.

It was 2:10 and the paper said that the girl had been unconscious for about an hour before the carbon dioxide killed her. So Gary had plenty of time, but he hoped to get there before she became unconscious.

He stepped inside the building and called, "Hello? Anyone home?"

The building was small, only one story. He walked into what looked like a living room, even though all it contained was a couch and a small coffee table. Next Gary looked in the kitchen. Again no one was there. There was a half eaten sandwich on the table so Gary knew that someone had to be home.

A few seconds later he heard a sound, he followed it into the hallway and to a room at the end of the hall. Putting his ear to the door, he listened again he heard the noise and this time he recognized it as a meow. 

"Hello?" Gary called one last time, when no one answered opened the door. 

The girl was laying on the floor. Next to her sat his cat.

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"No, I'm sure I don't know her name. I found her and she was unconscious so I brought her here." answered Gary. He was at the hospital and had to explain three times already that he had no clue who the women was.

"Well? How is she?" Gary asked the other nurse.

"She's doing fine. In fact, as soon as she wakes up, she'll be able to go home. Though she will be really tired for a few days."

"Does she have anyplace to stay? Where they able to find out anything about her?" asked Gary nervously.

"All they were able to find in her wallet was a library card and a few dollars. Her library said that her name is Felicity Johnson. But until she wakes up we won't know for sure. We tried to look her up, but there's no such person with the name Felicity Johnson in Chicago so she must be out of town."

"When do you think she'll wake up?" 

"Its hard to say, but it shouldn't be long."

"O ok." answered Gary. After checking the paper and finding nothing new he decided to call Marissa.

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"Hey Marissa, its me."

"O hi Gary. How did it go? With the girl? Is she ok?"

"Yeah she's fine. I'm at the hospital. She's unconscious, and they only know her name. What should I do?"

"Well, see if she wants to stay at your apartment, so you can find out more about her."

"That's a good idea...hold on," At that moment a nurse tapped Gary on the shoulder and said 

"Mr. Hobson. She's awake."

"Thanks I'll be right there." Then to Marissa he said "I'm real sorry Marissa but I gotta go. I'll see you later."

"Bye Gary" said Marissa hanging up.

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"Hi," said Felicity weakly looking up at Gary.

"Hello," Gary replied.

"Thanks," 

"For what?"

"For saving me, that's what. The doctor said that if you hadn't found me I would have died."

"Yeah...uh well, your welcome. I was wondering, do you have anyone we can call, or any one you can stay with?" asked Gary scratching his head.

"Nope, nobody."

"Well..." Gary started to say. Putting his head in his hands he rubbed his eyes. Then looked up at Felicity and said " Look...if you want you can stay at my apartment you can sleep on the couch and..."

"Thanks but no thanks. If you really want, I could use a ride to my apartment..." 

"All right," said Gary 

At that moment a nurse came into the room and said, "Miss Johnson, you can go as soon as you fill out some paper work."

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"So, where's your apartment?" Gary asked looking over at Felicity for the first time since they had gotten into his jeep.  


To his surprise she was asleep. "Felicity?" he whispered. "Great. Now what am I suppose to do?"

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Part 4

"What was I suppose to do? Leave her on the side of the road?" asked Gary. He and Marissa were in his office.

"No...but, oh I don't know Gary. But do you think its right to have someone you just barely met the other day sleeping on your couch?" Marissa asked, Gary could tell by her tone that she was a bit worried and confused.

"I don't really know, but what could I do? She was fast asleep. I tried to wake her up, but she was out cold. The nurse said she would be really tired so I figured she was ok."

"All right, but if she doesn't wake up by tomorrow morning I think you should bring her back to the hospital."

"Yeah, ok," said Gary yawning. "I'm gonna go to bed now, goodnight Marissa." He added as he walked toward the door that lead to the loft. 

"Goodnight Gary."

Sleepily Gary trudged up the stairs. When he reached the top, he stopped and quietly opened the door so that he wouldn't wake is guest.

Felicity lay on her back, her left arm was over her eyes, while the other was dangling off the side of the couch along with her right leg.

Gary had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing out loud, when he saw her. Walking over to her, he pulled the comforter up, that had been kicked to the end of the couch.

After turning on the bathroom light just incase his guest needed to use the bathroom, Gary climbed into bed. It seemed that as soon as his head hit the pillow he was asleep.

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"Meow! Plop.

Taking a deep breath and then letting it out Gary opened his eyes.

"Bark!" Plop.

Sitting straight up in his bed Gary looked at Felicity who also looked confused.

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Well that's the end of part 1. what do you think? please tell me. Keep checking for the second part. coming soon!


	2. Default Chapter Title

HTML1DocumentEncodingwindows-1252GeneratorMicrosoft Works 4.0

A Shared Secret (part 2)

Just a reminder: These aren't my characters, I'm just borrowing them for a few stories. I hope you enjoy. (And if you don't, don't worry I'm still warming up!) Happy reading. The next paragraph is a summary of part 1. Just incase you forget some parts. Its not nesesary to read the summary. (Sorry if there are any mistakes, no ones perfect)

When on a "mission" for the paper, a women appears and Gary suspects that she also gets the paper. Then Gary has to help her after she becomes unconscious. Gary is suppose to bring her back to her apartment but she falls asleep before she tells Gary where she lives. Part 1 ends when Gary hears a "meow!" plop followed by a "bark" plop.

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Pulling his feet out from under the covers Gary put them on ground, then walked over to the door. Felicity followed.

Opening the door, Gary was amazed at what he saw. Not only was his cat there, but there was also a puppy, who too was sitting on a paper.

Felicity, who had been looking over his shoulder said, "Puddles! What are you doing here?"

"You...you...this is your dog?" Gary asked scratching his head. He seemed to be the only one who was confused. Even the cat and dog seemed to know what was going on.

"Yup! I'm just surprised he found me." 

At this point the cat and dog had already run inside, and Felicity was scanning through her paper.

Picking up his paper, Gary walked over to were Felicity was sitting. He tried to skim through his paper also but when he couldn't concentrate he asked, "You get the paper too?"

Yup," answered Felicity, still busy reading her paper she didn't even bother to look up.

"*Tomorrow's* paper?"

"Yup."

"F for how long? Have you been getting it... I I mean."

"Hmmm," Finally looking up from her paper she looked at Gary. Then finished, "Well I got it the day after my Mom died, and that was two years ago, so I've been getting it for about 2 years."

"O..." Gary started but Felicity cut him off.

"Thanks for everything, but I've gotta go. Places to go, people to save. You know..."

"O...um...ok, but?" Gary stuttered.

"Page 17, top left. Be there at 7:30 sharp! See ya tonight." With that she picked up her dog and walked out the door, closing it behind her.

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"Again? How could you be so stupid? Did you even ask for her phone number? Probably not knowing you. Oh! Ya know, this is really getting on my nerves! If..." At this point in Chuck's speech Gary decided to tune him out.

Instead he decided to read the paper. Nothing really caught his attention until he reached page 17. He looked at the top left corner. Expecting to see an article about someone getting hurt or something like that, Gary was surprised to see that it was an ad for a restaurant.

Still a little puzzled he decided to talk to Marissa. Walking out of his office he could hear Chuck call, "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

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Marissa was sitting at a table near the bar. Gary walked over and sat down across from her. "Its me...I need your opinion."

"O really? Well ok. What is it?" Marissa asked taking a sip of her coffee.

"Well, you know Felicity?"

"If you mean the girl who slept on your couch, then yes, I know who you're talking about." Marissa said trying to hide a smile behind her coffee cup.

"Ha Ha..." Gary retorted. "Yes, well, I was right, she does get the paper too."

"Hmmm..."

"What do you mean 'hmmm'? What happened to the good advice you usually have?" Gary asked nervously.

"Calm down Gary, I was just thinking. Ok... well, do you have any way of finding her?"

"Yeah I'm suppose to meet her at..." he stopped to find the ad, when he found it he continued, "Ches Paris"

"So why do you need my opinion? The answers easy, *go*!"

"You really think so?"

"Yes, you want to find out more about her don't you?"

"Yeah," said Gary uncertainly. Then he looked in his paper one more time, there was an article that grabbed his attention: "5 YEAR OLD GIRL KIDNAPPED FOR RANSOM. "I gotta go. A little girl's gonna get kidnapped. I...Uh...I...Bye."

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Part 5

Gary arrived at Ches Paris at 7:30 sharp. As he walked in the door he saw Felicity, she smiled and waved to him.

"I'm with her," Gary said to the man at the door.

The restaurant was nicely decorated. It was painted to look like an outdoor cafe on the streets of Paris.

"Hey," said Felicity.

""Hi," Gary said back.

"I guess you have a lot of things you wanna ask me." said Felicity while looking a her menu.

"Yeah, um why do you keep "disappearing"? Like the time when there was an explosion, I I turned around when I heard the explosion, and when I I turned back around you were gone. And at the bridge..." At this point Felicity cut in.

Shrugging she said, "I dunno, it seemed like the right thing to do."

"Do you know why..." Gary had to stop because at this moment the waitress came to take their order. When she left he continued.

"Do you have any idea why your newspaper said that I was gonna die but mine still said those kids were, when they weren't even home?"

Felicity giggled when she realized he had said that all in one breath. Gary laughed too, he had been talking to Marissa too much and her excellent talking abilities must have been rubbing off on him.

"I don't know but there must have been a good reason." Felicity said finally.

After dinner Gary walked Felicity back to her apartment. When they reached the door, Felicity slipped her hand into Gary's. Kissing his check she said. "Thanks, see you tomorrow." Then she opened the door and disappeared into her apartment.

As he walked away Gary realized that he had something in his hand. It was a piece of paper. He unfolded it and read it to himself. It said: LIVE YOUR LIFE!

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"Gary, there's someone here to see you," said Marissa as she entered the tiny office, where Gary was sitting with papers scattered on his desk.

"Ok, I'll be there in a minute, thanks Marissa." Putting his pen down, Gary stood up and walked out of the office. A girl was sitting at the bar, smiling he recognized her as Felicity. Running his hand through his hair he walked over and sat down next to her.

"I need to talk to you," said Felicity without even saying hello.

"Ok. What do you wanna talk about?"

"Well..." Felicity started, but stopped when someone called for Gary saying it was important.

"I'm sorry, I'll be right back." said Gary standing up. "Stay here."

A few minutes later he came out, seeing that Felicity was gone, he ran outside. He spotted her across the street. She waved at him, and Gary tried to call to her but a car passed by blocking his view. When the car left Felicity was no where insight. Frustrated Gary walked inside.

"Mr. Hobson?" called one of the waitresses. When he reached her, she handed him a napkin. "The women you were talking left this for you."

"Thanks he said taking the napkin. Reading it to him self a few times he shoved it into his coat pocket. It said: GARY, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING. YOU'RE REALLY NICE. I WISH I COULD STAY LONGER BUT I HAVE TO GO. DON'T FORGET TO LIVE YOUR LIFE. LOVE - FELICITY.

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Part 6

At 10:00 he had to stop a robbery, and by the time he got home it was late. Climbing into bed he thought about what the note said and about everything that had happened in the last few days.

The next thing Gary knew, he was being awaken by the familiar: "Meow!" plop.

Scanning threw the paper Gary found that all he had to do was help a guy who hits his head while in the bath tub and drowns. Saving a guy while he is in the tub wasn't exactly what Gary wanted to be doing, but if it was in the paper, it had to be important.

Heading downstairs Gary hoped that for some strange reason the man would wear a bathing suit while bathing today.

Business at McGinty's was slow so Gary, Marissa and Chuck decided to go out for lunch. It was a nice day so they walked instead of taking the El. They were about a block away from the place they were going to eat at, when a man came running by, as he brushed past Marissa he grabbed her purse and continued running. "Hey!" Gary called after the man. Starting to jog away he called over his shoulder, "I'll meet you at the diner!" Then he sped up and continued to chase after the man.

Running as fast as he could, Gary almost didn't see the ladder in front of him. He tried to run around it but his foot caught on the ladder and it fell. Before he knew what hit him, he was covered with paint. Just then the painter came out from the building carrying a handful of clean brushes. When he saw the mess he yelled to Gary, "What the?" 

"I'm sorry, really, I I..." Gary started to say, but stopped when he saw that he had dropped his newspaper. Picking it up he realized that the article had changed to: MAN BREAKS LEG AFTER SLIPPING IN SPILLED PAINT. 

At that moment Gary saw the man coming, he was busy reading a magazine. Finding the man's name Gary called, "Mr. Stevenson! Mr. Stevenson! Watch out!"

The man stopped and looked up to see who was calling him. Then Gary called again "Your gonna step in paint!" 

Looking at Gary and then at the paint on the ground, the man said "O...Thanks." Then walked around the paint and went back to reading his newspaper.

Sighing Gary noticed that a women was standing next to him. She was very pretty, with blonde hair and baby blue eyes. She seemed concerned about something. Finally she said to him, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," answered Gary studying her face. Thinking to himself that he hoped she was single. 

"But your head? Its bleeding."

Gary touched his head and then looked at his hand, he noticed for the first time that it was bleeding. "O...yeah well," He started to say but the girl cut him off.

"Come on. My apartments only a few blocks away, lets go get a bandage for your head, and clean that paint off." 

"All right." He said smiling, what an easy way to get a date. 

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The end. What did you think? Please tell me! Don't forget to look for my other stories. Coming soon.


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